obama says he will retaliate. >> the world is watching. the use of chemical weapons is and would be totally unacceptable. >> reporter: countries that lived through the arab spring two years ago are morphing into a zone of instability. barack obama put his administration on the line for egypt's president mohamed morsi, a member of the muslim brotherhood. but egypt's economy is on the ropes. across the region, political storm clouds ar gathering as iran, israel and eight arab countries hold crucial elections this year. >> in every one of them, a new form of right, far, far right is emerging as to change the balance of power. >> reporter: in his first term, barack obama said he was making the middle east peace process a priority, but middle east expert aaron david miller says don't get your hopes up for this term. >> the fact is if you -- if the administration tried to put mahmoud abbas and benjamin netanyahu down together, right now, or in february, at the negotiating table, the gaps between them are so large that they simply cannot be bridg